


Stubborn

by Anonymous



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, But Dean’s going to try and fix them, Caretaker Dean Winchester, Cas and Sam Fight, Dean and Sam fight, Emotional Hurt All Round, Emotionally Hurt Sam Winchester, Guilty Dean Winchester, In that things aren’t okay, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mpreg, Peacekeeper Castiel, Pregnant Dean Winchester, happyish ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22372561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Dean decides that when it’s time for him to give birth, he’s going to do it alone.  Sam and Cas can watch but he absolutely does not want any assistance.His reasons are complex, but all Sam knows is that this is stupidly risky, and he should also have a say.Cas tries to broker a peace between the brothers or at least keep things calm as Dean’s delivery date approaches, but it’s far from easy with neither of them willing to give, or actually talk things out.
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43
Collections: Supernatural Anon Kink Meme





	Stubborn

**Author's Note:**

> Our boys as always, not great on using their words or talking about their feelings, and it has fall out here.
> 
> It just spoils what should have otherwise been a happy day, but Dean has years of being the guardian, the caretaker, the provider instilled in him and it’s not easy to let go of.
> 
> The situation with Chuck doesn’t help, but I’m sure they will find a way to fix things.

Dean knows he’s the cause of the friction between Sam and Cas, and he hates it, but at the same time he’s _right_ so naturally Cas is on his side over all of this.

Sam’s the one being unreasonable, even if he insists it’s them and not him, and he’ll either come around or he won’t.

Either way, Dean is having his way in this, And he’s not being dumb about it, it’s not like he’ll _be_ alone. But he can handle the rest, and it kinds of digs at him that Sam thinks otherwise.

Okay, giving birth, yes, it’s a big deal, but it’s nothing he can’t handle.

++

Sam thinks his brother is nuts. And worse, Cas is agreeing with him!

He’s still rocked at the sheer stupidity of Dean’s decision, but he’d expected Cas to be the voice of reason.

Instead, he’s… _enabling_ Dean and Sam surreptitiously checks both of them for possession or hexes that affect sound judgement (it has to be something than can get an angel too) before wondering if maybe they are both just coming down with something.

And if it makes him tetchy to be around, well, tough. That is his kid Dean is carrying, and he gets a say.

As far as he’s concerned he gets more of a say than Cas, who is family, always, but is not biologically involved in this particular issue so should really have kept his mouth shut and bowed out of the argument.

But Cas melts like toffee on a hot day when Dean looks at him like that, and so Sam is sure Dean knew exactly what he was doing when he yanked Cas into things.

He and Cas fought about it briefly, privately, a few minutes later (well, fought is the wrong expression; he chewed Cas out and then stormed off) and he and Dean fought about it privately, but loudly, later that night with his brother giving as good as he got if it ended up being a dug in position of _I want this and I’m getting what I want_.

Still, there are maybe five weeks to go, and so Sam hasn’t given up hope. He decides to employ Dean’s tactics. Dean sought to use Cas against him, so Sam figures that makes recruiting the angel to his side fair game.

Dean’s not the only one Cas likes to look out for.

++

Cas hates this.

He hates that Sam and Dean are fighting. It isn’t good for Dean or the baby, and it isn’t good for Sam to be so worked up and worried.

He hates that he and Sam are also fighting. Sam told him once that Cas was his brother too, and Cas has held to that, and he never meant to hurt Sam by ‘siding’ with Dean.

It wasn’t that simple, but he knows that’s how Sam sees it.

Mostly, when the brothers argue, Cas doesn’t mind because it’s usuallly childish or good natured: pie or cake, this movie or that one, Gerard Butler or Channing Tatum.

He won’t admit, but he’ll sometimes pick one side or the other just to get a little of his own back and encourage them to play and let off steam, because it’s certainly less harmful than some of their other stress relief mechanisms.

But this is different, and Cas wishes Sam had given him a chance to explain.

Is Dean wanting to give birth with zero assistance a sound decision?

Absolutely not. 

But that isn’t the decision Dean is making, though Cas understands why Sam thinks it is.

All Sam’s heard is Dean wanting to go through what might be an arduous labour with no help from his family, to be in pain without support, for sheer stubbornness.

His worry for Dean, for their child, is blinding him and Cas understands.

Their existence is beyond fragile, more so now than ever, with the world teetering on the brink and Chuck trying to push them into the plot line of whatever story he comes up with next (sometimes, Cas realises how Metatron turned out the way he did).

And childbirth results in mortality to a frighteningly high percentage given the current level of health and maternity care available even in some of the first world countries.

Then here is Dean, a male who will be producing a child in the next few weeks, his first and, as far as Cas knows, the first ever to do so.

It’s no wonder Sam is beside himself with fear and panic, and Cas wishes Dean would think of Sam’s point of view in this.

But he understands Dean, and knows Sam would too if he wasn’t so concerned (Sam probably still wouldn’t agree, but their arguing would be less like a pair of boxers each trying to knock the other out with a single punch).

Dean has always taken care of himself. And Sam, with very little outside assistance.

Cas classes John as outside assistance, because he can’t bring himself to think otherwise of him. Even though it hasn’t technically been that way for a long time, as far as Dean is concerned, the responsibility for protecting and caring for the three of them (soon to be four) rests with him, whether one of them is a capable hunter and the other an angel or not, it’s how he sees it.

It what keeps him going, that others need him. That they need him, and without it Cas isn’t sure Dean _would_ keep going.

This is perhaps an extreme example, but at the same time they are in dire times. He suspects Dean, though in conscious denial, is always aware that at any moment some tragedy could befall them and he could be left alone.

He wants to reassure himself that if it happened, he’ll cope.

Cas just wishes he could explain that to Sam instead of leaving it to him because unless it is explained, Cas suspects this air of anger and hurt will continue right up until the birth.

But it isn’t just Sam that Cas has to speak to, because, and he doesn’t think Dean’s realised it yet, there’s also the fact that Sam might want a part in helping Dean bring their child into the world, and Cas doesn’t want the fact that he got shut out of it affecting Sam’s relationship with Dean going forward.

++

Maybe, Dean thinks, this wasn’t such a great idea.

He’s on his hands and knees in the infirmary, rocking his hips side to side to help with the pain, and groaning when it gets too bad.

But he’s not quitting now, and it’s not like Sam and Cas aren’t there, ready to step in if things do get out of hand.

He’s kind of glad Cas had that talk with Sam (he knows there was a talk because Cas appeared and firmly asked Sam to accompany him to the war room one breakfast, while they were both sitting there not acknowledging the other’s presence, even if he doesn’t know what was said).

After, Sam was a little easier around them both. Still not happy, not at all, but more willing to consider Dean’s wishes in this, and that did a lot of the combined stress levels in their home.

And the last thing Dean needed was that on top of this.

He bears down with the newest, most powerful contraction, and then Sam says, “Yeah, Dean, almost there,” and he suddenly realises that in wanting to do this alone, yeah, he has maybe deprived Sam of being a part of it when he’s been a part of everything else.

And Cas in his own way tried to tell him, but Dean shut him down, and now it’s too late.

One prolonged push and he’s reaching back to carefully ease his kid out and down onto the soft towels waiting below.

She squeals her head off, wailing like a banshee, but that’s okay, that’s good, and Dean manages to get turned around and settled down so he can cut the cord and pick her up and then make sure she’s okay.

Everything’s where it’s supposed to be and she kind of glowers at him a little like she’s found the world, brief though her taste of it has been so far, not to her liking and it’s all his fault.

“It gets better,” he promises her, and then looks up to his family.

Cas’s eyes glow briefly, and Dean can feel a gentle tingle of Grace as the angel assures himself both dad and baby are fine, before smiling at them and excusing himself.

And that leaves Sam, lingering in the infirmary door like he’s waiting on permission to come in.

Dean wants to kick his own ass, but he pushes that down for now, anyway.

“Sam, come on, come might our baby girl.”

Sam acts like he’s approaching a sink hole, slow quiet hesitant steps until he lowers himself to sit cross legged in front of them.

“She’s okay?”

Dean nods. “She’s perfect. Sam, I….”

He shakes his head. What can he say? He isn’t sorry for the choice he made, but he is more than sorry for what it’s deprived Sam of and there’s just nothing he can do about it now.

“I’m sorry.” It’s not enough, nowhere near enough, but it’s all he’s got.

Sam smiles, but Dean doesn’t miss the way it doesn’t reach his eyes. What Dean sees there, as Sam tries to stop tears building is a mix of relief that they are both okay, love for them both and pain that he got locked out of what should have been an experience they shared.

“It’s okay,” he says, and no, it isn’t, but there’s something there that tells Dean his brother understands. That he’s hurt but they can push through this and move on.

Dean carefully passes their little girl to Sam, and watches him get introduced to someone he just knows will wrap them both around her little finger (and probably the angel too, maybe even more so than her daddies).

Whatever happens, he’ll make sure Sam is never pushed aside again.


End file.
